Currier s beam and knife



UNTTE sTATEs PAT otros.

JAS. D. WILLOUGHBY, OF CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

CURRIERS BEAM AND KNIFE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,207, dated August 17, 1852.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, J AMES D. TILLoUoi-IBY, of Carlisle, in the county of Cumberland and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Implements for Currying Leather; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to t-he acco-mpanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which* Figure l is a perspective of the improved beam, the gages or knife guides thrown forward, the better to exhibit the improvement on the sides of the beam; Fig. 2, a modification of the beam and gages; Fig. 3, a view of the improved knife, and Fig. 4, a modification of the same.

The nature of my improvement of the beam, consists in attaching or adapting gages, or guides for the knife either stationary or movable tothe curriers beam or to the foot thereof, and also in attaching spring iaps to the sides of the beam or to the gages, by which I am enabled to clamp or secure the hide to the beam, instead of requiring the knee of the workman to retain the double hide to the same, and as the gages or guides may be set, leather of any desired and regular thickness may be obtained without that skill and judgment necessarily required and exercised in the use of the ordinary beam, at the same time the operator is enabled to turn out more curried leather, there being no lost time in folding and feeling for thickness. It is ad- Vmirably adapted to dressing harness leather,

which is required to be of uniform thick- 'ness, and in the finer varieties such as morrocco kid, &c., the risk of cutting through is reduced.

The improvement in the knife, which in its general appearance resembles the ordiv nary curriers knife is in the construction of the handle, it being so arranged between the knife plates, that by a movement of the handle, the edge of the knife may be thrown nearer the face of the beam, without altering the gages or guides on the beam; this is done either by an eccentric or a slotted bar, passing between the plates, constituting the stock of the knife.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In Fig. l, A represents the base or foot block of the curriers beam; B, the beam firmly secured in A (or it may if desired that the gages should be stationary, be made adjustable). C C are hinged side iaps attached to the beam, (provided with spring a placed between their under sides, and edges of the beam, shown in dotted line, to throw them out in close contact with the sides of t-he gages,) and acts as clamps to the leather placed over the beam; instead of hinged flaps and springs, thick port-ions of any elastic substance may be used as a substitute. D, D, are gages, or guides for the knife, made of suitable pieces of wood or metal and sufficiently strong to embrace and retain the leather between their' sides and the edges of the beam; they also strain the leather and remove wrinkles, and are equally adapted to the plain or common beam; the gages are united by cross pieces cl CZ secured in mort-ises, the upper cross piece el merely sustains the gages, but the lower one d serves also the purpose of an adjustment, by screws c c inserted in the end of the base or foot A. The edges of the gages are made straight from the top to the recess or hollow E E fn which the knife may be laid. They have motion o-n the pivot F placed in the secondary block G, secured to the base A (by screws passing through slots in G,) and may be thrown forward, when changing the leather on the beam. By the secondary block G the gages may be moved, and assisted by the screws c 0 arresting the cross piece d the parallelism of the gages with the face of the beam regulated, and thus give the desired thickness to the leather. The knife is formed of two plates I-I provided with screws z, z passing through them clamping and securing the steel blades I, I, between them, through. the center of the stock thus formed by the plates, passes the handle J, the portion j intended to rest upon and slide on the gages D D of the beam, is made round, but the portion K passing between the plates in dot-ted line is reduced in diameter, but is not concentric with y' j, being eccentric, the object of which being, by turning the handle J the eccentric acts on the stock H and throws the edge of the knife either from, or toward, the beam; there is a modification of the same in Fig. 4, and the same result obtained by a bar Z passing through the handles m furnished with diagonal slots 0 0 0 therein, and operated on by a screw nut n constituting one of the handles, by the turning of said nut n the bar Z is made to project beyond the thickness of the handle m, and by drawing the slot on the bolts j? p thus shift the knife from o-r toward the beam.

My improved beam admits of the use of the ordinary knife, but the improved one has the advantage of not requiring the gages to be so frequently altered, and the gages, when a quantity of leather of one thickness is desired, may have stops placed behind their back edges; the knife is also provided with a set screw by which the handles may be retained in position.

A modification of the improvement to the beam is shown in Fig. 2. A represents the base or foot block; B, the ordinary beam secured in the cross piece of the base; D D, movable gages connected with the posts 3, 3, by pins or bolts passing through angularly placed slots Il, t in D; by depressing D the gages are made to advance in front of the face line of the beam, if additional thickness is required in the leather.

In the use of the improved beam the wet leather is thrown across the face of the beam B and over the fiaps C, C, drawing it smooth and free of wrinkles; the guides or gages D, D, are then brought into the position shown in dotted line, and thus clamp the leather between the inner side of D and outer side of G; the springs a between the inside of C and the edge of the beam force the flaps C outward and thus clamp the leather. If the improved knife is used, the edge of the blade is applied to the leather, the handles sliding on the edges of the gages D, said gages having been set to the required fserve to turn the eccentric y', on the handle J,

as the reduction of the leather requires.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. The construction of a curriers beam B with flaps C C on its edges, furnished with springs a and gages D D or their equivalent, for the purpose of dispensing with the kneeing and prevention of cutting through and production of regular thickness of leather.

2. I also claim the construction of a knife made adjustable by the eccentric handle J, y', 7c, or its equivalent in connection with the gages or guides D D, substantially as and for the purpose set forth in the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name hereunto before two subscribing witnesses.

J. D. WILLOUGHBY. Witnesses:

J oHN F. CLARK, JOHN L. MITH. 

